antlori

Don't know if this is too ambitious, but here goes:
Day 1 (Sat) - arrive Phoenix early afternoon, stay at Airport Hilton - any suggestions on things to do? Restaurants, theatre, shopping nearby? Will have rental car.
Day 2 (Sun) - get up early and drive to Grand Canyon - stop at Montezuma's Castle, Chapel of the Holy Cross, drive through Oak Creek Canyon, Tuzigoot (worth stopping for?) - lunch in Sedona or Flagstaff - Hwy.40 to Williams - anything to see there?, then on up to G.C. mid-afternoon - sunset tour then dinner at Steakhouse or Arizona Room, stay at Thunderbird Lodge
Day 3 (Mon.) - sunrise tour, breakfast at El Tovar (need reservations?) - take other road over to Cameron (Little Colorado River Gorge - worth a stop?) and up to Tuba City - worth the side trip? - map says Dinosaur Tracks there - anyone know about this?, back down to Wupatki & Sunset Crater, maybe stop at Enchantment for lunch then straight down to Phoenix/Scottsdale late afternoon - stay at Westin Kierland, dinner in hotel
Day 4 (Tues) - veg day - relax at spa, maybe do Taliesin (how do you pronounce this?) - any theatre or dinner theatre in Scottsdale?
Day 5 (Wed) - drive south to Tucson - Saguara Natl Park & Sonora Desert Museum - what is Ironwood Forest, is it worth a stop?, then down to Tombstone & Bisbee if there's time - may skip Tombstone - what's in Bisbee? - people seem to like it
Day 6 (Thurs) - How far to Petrified Forest & Painted Desert? Could we do in a day trip from Scottsdale? Would really like to fit it in if possible.
Day 7 (Fri) - check out of Westin, drive out to Apache Trail, Goldfield Ghost Town, Globe (anything to see there?), back to Phoenix via Hwy.60 - how long should this take? all day? - check into Airport Hilton
Day 8 (Sat) - Suggestions for morning? anything downtown? - may take rental car back Fri night if there's nothing else to do within short drive.

Comments would be appreciated.
PS: Stayed in Sedona in February so not planning to spend any time there except maybe lunch.

antlori

Sorry, forgot to say I'm flying into Phoenix on Saturday, Nov.8.

Ally75

One of my favorite (natural) places in Phoenix is the South Mountain Park. You can drive it and get wonderful mountain views of Phoenix. You can also walk around. For shopping, the Scottsdale area is always the place for upmarket shops and restaurants. If you go up to the Grand Canyon, then south to Tuscon, then leaving out of Phoenix, you might be backtracking and spending most of your time on the road. Could you go to Tuscon after Phoenix? If I remember correctly, Tuscon is about 1 hour 45 min to 2 hours from Phoenix. The Grand Canyon is also about that far north of Phoenix, if not further (I think--I could be wrong. )

E

Day 4-- It's "Tally-ess-in"; if you're at all into Frank Lloyd Wright, you'll love it.
Day 5--No way will you have time to see Saguaro, the Desert Museum, AND then drive to and see Tombstone and Bisbee! You could easily do Saguaro and the Museum, then drive to Bisbee for dinner, but that's about it. I would skip Tombstone unless you're a very big fan of its history. Bisbee is a mining town with a unique flavor--cute shops (not at all touristy), a couple of good restaurants (Cafe Roka is the best), a historic old hotel (the Copper Queen), and the Copper Queen Mine tour is worth doing. But you could only really see it if you devote the morning of Day 6 to Bisbee.
I'm no good at distances without a map in front of me, so I'll rely on other Fodorites to comment in more detail. You do have a map, right? Anyway, happy trails!

bigtyke

Toooooo much driving

antlori

Thanks for the comments. I thought that this would be too much but we'll probably just do what we can and not push ourselves. My husband likes to drive but he's not keen on scenery. He doesn't even want to see the Grand Canyon but that's the only thing I actually insisted on. He's interested in the mine stuff so I think we'll try to get to Bisbee for the Copper Queen Mine. We'll probably bypass Tombstone this trip. I wanted to do Painted Desert and Petrified Forest but it looks really far on the map--maybe next time. I'm very stressed out from work and need a relaxing vacation so maybe we'll hang around Phoenix a little more.

kkj

Your itinerary is way too ambitious. You'll never have time to get out of your car.

The Grand Canyon will take you at about four hours from Phoenix -- if you don't hit traffic. Oak Creek Canyon can also be crowded and the route you are going will add considerably to the time of your drive.

If you cut out about half of what you have planned each day you should be fine.

Do a quick check all the previous posts on Arizona and you'll have a good idea of what to do.

Have fun. The weather is great here now.

E

Oh, if he's into mines, this is the tour for him! It's run by retired miners--they really know what they're talking about! You put on a headlamp and a yellow slicker and a big leather belt and ride down on those little cars...fascinating, even for a non-mine fan. Oh, and note that the temp down in the mine is about 50F year-round, so bring a sweater. Enjoy!

antlori

Thanks, E, for the info on Copper Queen Mine tour. We'll definitely make a point to get there. Sounds interesting. I'll take your advice too, kkj, and cut out a lot of the stops. Probably would have only done about half anyway because my husband won't want to stop unless I throw the car into neutral.
Ally75, a co-worker told me about a mountain close to Phoenix that you can drive up to get a good view of the Phoenix area. Sounds like South Mountain Park you mentioned. Think we'll give it a try. We're staying in Phoenix and just taking day trips from there except for the Grand Canyon, so won't be going from Grand Canyon to Tucson in a day. Our hotels are already bought and paid for on Priceline so can't change them.

E

Btw, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Monument are within a couple of miles of each other, and both are on the north side of Tucson, putting them that much closer to Phoenix. I highly recommend the Museum, which is really an all-outdoor cross between a (very well-designed, humane)zoo and botanical garden. It's lovely to stroll through. And Saguaro offers several very short, easy walking trails to some pteroglyphs; the short film at the Visitor's Center is good. I hope you won't cut these off your list of things to do! But whatever you decide, enjoy--that's one of my very fave parts of this country!

antlori

I definitely will not cut the Saguaros off my list. We're cutting out the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest (too far to travel back & forth in a day) and the Tuba City, Wupatki and Sunset Crater portion of the G.C. visit. That way we can do Oak Creek Canyon on the way up and Montezuma and Holy Cross on the way back. Cutting out Day 6 gives us a buffer day to do whatever we didn't get done the rest of the week. Thanks all for the help. There's so much to do that it's hard to decide what to keep and what to cut.

SEW

I would skip Tuzigoot, and Oak Creek Canyon. They are both great, but if you were in Sedona early this year, not worth the detour. Tuzigoot easily takes you way off track and I would focus on the Grand Canyon on the way up. You will also want to spend a little time at GC. Take the shuttle in the Park and get off at various spots. You can reboard and see much more of the GC this way. Definately Arizona Room for dinner.

For the drive back to Phoenix, take Desert View drive out of the park through the East entrance to Highway 89 and go to both Wupatki and Sunset Crater. Wupatki is like Tuzigoot, only better colors. You can also see the Painted Desert in the distance. Take the loop road to Sunset Crater. There is something about seeing volcanic rock in Arizona. Stopping and seeing each is about an hour depending on how much you want to study the area.

If do Wupatki/Sunset crater you may want to do Montezuma Castle on the way to Grand Canyon. It's a short distance from the freeway and very impressive.

Depending on where you are from, I would definately get the National Park Pass. It's $50, but to drive into Grand Canyon it's $20 alone. Plus the Nat. Monuments are $3 per person each, so it starts to add up.

We just returned from GC last week, did 6 National Monuments & Parks.

antlori

SEW: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm from Canada. Where can I get a National Park Pass? Is it available to non-Americans? Are the shuttles within the Park free?

utahtea

You can get a National Park Pass at the entrance of any National Park the first time you visit one or you can order one on line:

https://buy.nationalparks.org/default.asp?ref=nps

Anyone can purchase and use a National Park Pass.

The shuttle system in the Grand Canyon, Yosemite & Zion are free. Those are the only parks I know that have a shuttle service.

Utahtea